A first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) test cell may be positioned at a first position and a second UAV test cell may be positioned at a second position. The first position and the second position may be designated as a pair of unbroken link positions in response to a line-of-sight (LOS) wireless communication link being unblocked between the first UAV test cell and the second UAV test cell. Otherwise, the first position and the second position may be designated as a pair of broken link positions in response to the LOS wireless communication link being blocked between the first UAV test cell and the second UAV test cell.

Radio communications systems use 100 to 200 satellites in random low-earth orbits distributed over a predetermined range of north and south latitudes. The satellites themselves create a radio route between ground stations via radio links between multiple satellites by virtue of onboard global navigation satellite system circuitry for determining the location of the satellite and route creation circuitry for calculating in real time the direction from the satellite's location at a particular instant to a destination ground station. Directional antennas in the satellites transmit routing radio signals to enhance the probability of reception by other satellites. One embodiment facilitates the creation of satellite-to-satellite links by assigning each satellite a unique identifier, storing orbital information defining the locations of all of the orbiting satellites in the system at any particular time, and including in the radio signal the unique identifier associated with the transmitting satellite.

A radio communication route enables communication from an originating ground station to a destination ground station via one of multiple randomly orbiting satellites with no attitude control. The ground stations and satellites include directional antennas for receiving radio signals from and transmitting radio signals in multiple directions. The satellites store an address of a destination ground station from which an initial information signal is transmitted and antenna information identifying the satellite antenna on which the initial information signal was received. Plural satellite antennas transmit linking information identifying the satellite to the originating ground station. Data transmissions received at the originating ground station that designate a particular destination are transmitted by the originating ground station using the antenna on which the linking information was received and the satellite retransmits the data transmission using the satellite antenna identified by the stored antenna information.

A method for balancing inroute traffic load that contains both guaranteed QoS and best effort traffic. Hierarchical grouping levels are defined with the lowest level corresponding to inroutes within the system. Certain levels have common symbol rates, modulation rates, or both. When a new terminal requires admission, it is assigned to entries in the different hierarchical levels so that the inroute traffic load across all levels are balanced. Terminals are admitted to inroutes based, in part, on their channel quality indicator. Inroute traffic load can periodically rebalance based on elapsed time or terminal redistribution.

A method for X2 interface communication is disclosed, comprising: at an X2 gateway for communicating with, and coupled to, a first and a second radio access network (RAN), receiving messages from the first RAN according to a first X2 protocol and mapping the received messages to a second X2 protocol for transmission to the second RAN; maintaining state of one of the first RAN or the second RAN at the X2 gateway; executing executable code received at an interpreter at the X2 gateway as part of the received messages; altering the maintained state based on the executed executable code; and receiving and decoding an initial X2 message from the first RAN; identifying specific strings in the initial X2 message; matching the identified specific strings in a database of stored scripts; and performing a transformation on the initial X2 message, the transformation being retrieved from the database for stored scripts, the stored scripts being transformations.

A radio communication system for transmitting data to a ground station includes plural stochastically distributed orbiting satellites with plural antennas traversing a portion of the earth's surface divided into zones. The ground station has a unique address identifying itself and the zone where it is located. A local area network associated with the ground node includes at least one satellite that stores the identity of a satellite antenna paired with a ground station antenna to form a radio link for transmitting data onboard the satellite to the ground station. Other satellites in the local area network store the ground node address and the identity of an antenna paired with an antenna in another satellite that also has stored the ground node address. A wide area network includes at least one satellite, each of which stores the identity of an antenna paired with an antenna of another satellite that has stored the ground node zone to form at least one inter-satellite radio link. If a satellite with data onboard is not in a local area network associated with the destination ground node or a wide area network, the satellite transmits the data toward the ground node zone.

Radio communications systems use 100 to 200 satellites in random low-earth orbits distributed over a predetermined range of north and south latitudes. The satellites themselves create a radio route between ground stations via radio links between multiple satellites by virtue of onboard global navigation satellite system circuitry for determining the location of the satellite and route creation circuitry for calculating in real time the direction from the satellite's location at a particular instant to a destination ground station. Directional antennas in the satellites transmit routing radio signals to enhance the probability of reception by other satellites. One embodiment facilitates the creation of satellite-to-satellite links by assigning each satellite a unique identifier, storing orbital information defining the locations of all of the orbiting satellites in the system at any particular time, and including in the radio signal the unique identifier associated with the transmitting satellite.

A method for balancing inroute traffic load that contains both guaranteed QoS and best effort traffic. Hierarchical grouping levels are defined with the lowest level corresponding to inroutes within the system. Certain levels have common symbol rates, modulation rates, or both. When a new terminal requires admission, it is assigned to entries in the different hierarchical levels so that the inroute traffic load across all levels are balanced. Terminals are admitted to inroutes based, in part, on their channel quality indicator. Inroute traffic load can periodically rebalance based on elapsed time or terminal redistribution.

A method for X2 interface communication is disclosed, comprising: at an X2 gateway for communicating with, and coupled to, a first and a second radio access network (RAN), receiving messages from the first RAN according to a first X2 protocol and mapping the received messages to a second X2 protocol for transmission to the second RAN; maintaining state of one of the first RAN or the second RAN at the X2 gateway; executing executable code received at an interpreter at the X2 gateway as part of the received messages; altering the maintained state based on the executed executable code; and receiving and decoding an initial X2 message from the first RAN; identifying specific strings in the initial X2 message; matching the identified specific strings in a database of stored scripts; and performing a transformation on the initial X2 message, the transformation being retrieved from the database for stored scripts, the stored scripts being transformations.

A radio communication route enables communication from an originating ground station to a destination ground station via one of multiple randomly orbiting, rotating satellites with no active attitude control. The ground stations and satellites include directional antennas for receiving radio signals from and transmitting radio signals in multiple directions. The satellites store an address of a destination ground station from which an initial information signal is transmitted and antenna information identifying the satellite antenna on which the initial information signal was received. Plural satellite antennas transmit linking information identifying the satellite to the originating ground station. Data transmissions received at the originating ground station that designate a particular destination are transmitted by the originating ground station using the antenna on which the linking information was received and the satellite retransmits the data transmission using the satellite antenna identified by the stored antenna information.